I1L2T3 Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Yes it is rather bizzare isn't it. Expecting folk who work at McDonalds who earn less than £7.00/hour whilst making something folk want, having to fork out to subsidise folk on £14.00/hour to make something we don't want. Do you really want a situation where we can't produce our own steel? Seriously? If so, why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 Do you really want a situation where we can't produce our own steel? Seriously? If so, why? Some former head of the navy wants us to keep it. Why when we've got hardly any ships and two aircraft carriers with no planes but still. For the sake of argument, let's say HM government forks out for a lovely big steel works. Then what. Do we moth ball it until we need something? Make steel and sell it at a loss (that will go down well with the EU)? Make it and stick it in the car park? Organise an awful lot of table tennis competitions with the staff? It could be used for HS2 but would that be on the table still if we have to buy a steel industry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Some former head of the navy wants us to keep it. Why when we've got hardly any ships and two aircraft carriers with no planes but still. For the sake of argument, let's say HM government forks out for a lovely big steel works. Then what. Do we moth ball it until we need something? Make steel and sell it at a loss (that will go down well with the EU)? Make it and stick it in the car park? Organise an awful lot of table tennis competitions with the staff? It could be used for HS2 but would that be on the table still if we have to buy a steel industry? What if we need to produce more ships in the future? Buy the steel from the Chinese? Subsidise the plants until we have a clear idea of the best options to take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy lady Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) Do you really want a situation where we can't produce our own steel? Seriously? If so, why? I think we should manufacture things we can sell, not things that we can't. So if the British public choose to buy British cars made from British steel thenwe should produce steel. Indeed if a few more of the folks at Port Talbot Steel Works chose to buy cars made from the steel they produce there would be a rather larger market for it. Where I struggle is the idea that we should subsidise the production of steel we can't sell and pay the folk making it rather more money than many of the folks who are required to pay taxes in order to subsidise the steel. There again I struggle to understand how the Scottish Government can commission the Forth Bridge with public money and allow it to be built with imported steel at a time when they are bleeting for bale outs. ---------- Post added 31-03-2016 at 09:09 ---------- What if we need to produce more ships in the future? Buy the steel from the Chinese? Subsidise the plants until we have a clear idea of the best options to take. Wouldn't we have to build ship yards if we wanted to build ships and bring in workers from Poland to build them? Incidentally there is no partivular shortage of steel in the UK. We have imported so many fridges, Volkswagens, Fiats, and Scania trucks that the old ones are simply melted down in places like Rotherham and made into Jaguars and nuclear submarines. Edited March 31, 2016 by foxy lady Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossdog Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Plan A. we stop sending payments to Brussels to prop up an ailing EU. Plan B. we then divert those payments to prop up an ailing steel industry. Plan C. we ask the EU to rescue our steel industry. I am not holding my breath! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted77 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 This is just another argument about should all industry be run to maximise profit, usually for multinationals or whether certain industies should be run strategically for the benifit of the nation. I personally think we should have kept a lot of the industries which were sold off and the profits (which these companies have made) be used to invest in developing the industry and helping the state Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutty27 Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Do you really want a situation where we can't produce our own steel? Seriously? If so, why? Its probably too late for the British steel industry, the only way it could have been saved would have been to leave the EU years ago and use all the steel we can produce before allowing steel imports in the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteMorris Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I've just read the entire thread, and I'm wondering how many of the posters on here would be directly affected by the closure of TATA steel? I suspect not many judging by the 'let steel fail' type posts. I just wonder, if their opinions might be a bit different if you were about to lose your livelihood through no fault of your own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFKvsNixon Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I've just read the entire thread, and I'm wondering how many of the posters on here would be directly affected by the closure of TATA steel? I suspect not many judging by the 'let steel fail' type posts. I just wonder, if their opinions might be a bit different if you were about to lose your livelihood through no fault of your own. You could use that argument for any of the historical struggling industries, the trouble is where do you draw the line? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy lady Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 You could use that argument for any of the historical struggling industries, the trouble is where do you draw the line? And where do you store all the unwanted... Coal Steel Wooden barrels Steam engines Oil tankers etc etc. And what price should we pay for iron ore to make the steel that we don't need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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